How do I use VNC?

Start a vnc-server on the machine you want to control, with vncserver :1 (:1 means display 1). You will be asked to define a password for accessing your server and another one for just observing without interacting. After that, your server is up and running and you can connect to it with any available VNC-clients (e.g. TightVNC) by entering the hostname you want to connect to, like hostname:1.

VNC through SSH tunnel

• Start VNC Server on remote host

  • vncserver :<display#> -localhost

  Warning! Always choose a strong password when starting vncserver. Otherwise, you'll make it trivial for intruders to hijack your account!

• Start viewer on client

  • vncviewer -via <remotehost>.ee.ethz.ch localhost:<display#>

Windows users might like SSVNC which eases connecting to VNC via SSH tunnel. Mac users may establish the tunnel via SSH, then use "open vnc://localhost:PORT" to use the built-in VNC client.

Troubleshooting

1. If you are using gnome as default desktop environment and are affected by completely wrong keyboard-layout after logon to gnome (http://bugs.debian.org/476727) use the following workaround:

   Directly in the line before /etc/X11/Xsession of $HOME/.vnc/xstartup add the line

     export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1

2. If you are using gnome as default desktop environment and the up and down arrows behave wrong (http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=679543) do the following:

   • Go to: Applications->System Tools->Preferences->System Settings->Keyboard->Shortcuts->Windows

   • And disable options: "Toggle maximization state" and "Restore windows"

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